The Fleet Lead Ford Pro's take on tech shortage, work truck TCO, and journey to zero downtime
10 snips
Feb 9, 2026 Eric Rice, General Manager for Ford Pro U.S. commercial and government sales, explains how modern work trucks are becoming mobile offices and mission-critical tools. He covers total cost of ownership, advanced safety and trailer tech, the technician shortage and training efforts, AI-driven telematics turning data into action, and Ford’s push toward zero downtime with OTA updates and mobile service.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Total Cost Of Ownership Reframed
- Fleets now evaluate vehicles by total cost of ownership including opportunity cost from downtime.
- Eric Rice says customers treat vehicles as tools and losing one quickly multiplies costs beyond purchase and resale values.
Work Trucks Are Mobile Offices
- Modern trucks are highly complex and built to be mobile workspaces with features like ProPower Onboard.
- Eric Rice stresses customers expect vehicles to power tools and laptops on job sites without external generators.
Telemetry At Scale Powers Service
- Connected vehicles stream massive telemetry to OEMs and dealers via built-in modems.
- Eric Rice says Ford collects about a billion data points daily to inform service and fleet decisions.